Articles and comments by Fadi Zanayed, a Moderate Palestinian, about the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Monday, January 16, 2012

Apartheid Israel Policy of Fear

Sunset in Salfit as Maram lives in fear

In a previous article I compared my daughter
and Maram who were born 17 days apart, one in Palestine, one in Chicago. Maram and I have become good Facebook friends
and she is teaching me many things about life in Palestine. Recently, she shared with me her desire to be
married but instead of seeking love as a reason to be married, I was perplexed
to hear her say that all she wanted was safety from the marriage.

As a Palestinian, I should not be so puzzled at
Maram’s desire to seek safety in a potential husband rather than the universal
quest for a soul mate to love. But I
am. Maybe I have become insulated living
in America ever since I was 6 years old.
Maybe I really do not understand the freedoms that I have and the
freedoms that Maram and the 4.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank
and Gaza lack.

Maram tells me she cannot love if she does not
feel safe.

I am trying to grasp the meaning of the word “safe”. Does she mean the yearning desire for the
human spirit to be free? Does she want
to live without fear?

In the United States we can drive to the next
town through many different routes without having to go through any military checkpoint. In Palestinian towns a 25 foot apartheid wall
or a electric barred wire fence surrounds the perimeter leaving only one exit
controlled by apartheid soldiers.
Ingress and egress to the town is controlled by an apartheid military
checkpoint.

It must be exhausting on the human spirit that
a simple trip to the next town has to take so much mental effort. Americans cannot comprehend this. We just get
into our cars and drive and as long as we obey the laws and driving speed
limit, we will not have any encounter with the police. In Palestine,
confronting the apartheid soldiers is a daily event.

Americans do not have a fear of going to the
grocery store and be subjected to a gun pointed at our face by an apartheid
soldier. In Palestine that fear is ever
present.

Americans do not have to fear that an
apartheid soldier will come knocking on our door in the middle of the night and
take our father or brother to jail. We
do not have soldiers in the street. Except
in emergency situations and only upon a probable cause that s crime is being
committed, police officers cannot enter our homes without a proper search
warrant executed by a Judge. In
Palestine, apartheid soldiers come to Palestinian homes at all hours of the
day, ransack the home and take away any member of the household to prison controlled
by a military court system in Apartheid Israel that has a conviction rate of 99.7%.

In America, every person arrested is assumed
innocent until the government proves him guilty. In Apartheid Israel,
Palestinians are assumed guilty without a chance to prove their innocence. Political
prisoners can be endlessly detained under administrative detention without a
trial.

No one in Palestine is presumed innocent until
proven guilty. Almost every Palestinian who
enters the military court system in Apartheid Israel is guilty, guilty,
guilty. I know a Palestinian attorney in
Jerusalem who once bragged that he has a perfect 100% record—all his clients
accused of wrong doing by Apartheid Israel have been found to be guilty.

To be subjected to being snatched out of your
home with your children present and to being arrested on the street by
apartheid soldiers has its fear built in to the Palestinian mindset. Apartheid Israel has a policy to instill fear
in Palestinians. The more fear
Palestinians feel, the more likely they would want to leave Palestine. The more Palestinians leave Palestine, the fewer
remain on the land. The fewer the
Palestinians, the longer the Israelis remain a majority. The more the Israelis are a majority the
longer Israel can maintain their apartheid system. It is expected that the population of Palestinians
in Israel, West Bank and Gaza will outnumber Israeli Jews by 2016. Apartheid
Israel is trying to prolong that date by instilling fear in Palestinians so
that they will leave Palestine.

Fear is a part of daily life in Palestine. I personally
do not see it, do not feel it and do not live it. But that does not mean that I do not
understand it. Thanks to Maram she is
helping me understand what if feels like to live in Palestine. Our
conversations are simple. I do not ask
her direct questions about fear or any other subject. The subject of wanting to
seek safety in a marriage, to live without fear, came out naturally.

Naturally, I want Maram and all young ladies
in Palestine to one day soon to live without fear and seek the wonderful
feeling of love that builds a husband and wife relationship into a life of
happiness. Exposing the Apartheid State
of Israel is my contribution to making that day come sooner.

((c) Fadi Zanayed. This article may be republished or sited as long as the author and site are included as the reference.)

About Me

Fadi Zanayed is an author, poet, community activist and an attorney since 1985. A graduate from Loyola University with a B.S. in Managerial Accounting and a minor in Political Science in 1983, he received his law degree from Loyola School of Law in 1985. A Palestinian American whose family originates from Ramallah, Palestine, Fadi Zanayed is an active and proud member of the Arab American community with a long history of community leadership and service. They include: Founding Member of Arab-American Bar Association of Illinois, Inc.; Former Regional Director & Past President, Chicago Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; Past President of the Chicago Chapter of the Palestinian American Congress; Past National Secretary of the Palestinian American Congress; Past President of the Chicago Club of Ramallah, Palestine; Past Member of the Board of the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine; Past President of the American Youth Federation of Ramallah, Palestine. He is the author of Cycle of Frustration: A collection of poems about Palestine; and Betrayal, Sorrow and Tomorrow (pen name: Chris F. Wollinks).